The broken crown, or, The disasters of a green-bag chief!!!

Print shows four Ministers, summoned by the King, sitting at a table bending over a crown broken into two pieces. Sidmouth (right), tilting forward his seat, which is a commode, holds his clyster-pipe; in his pocket is a bottle labelled 'Strong Mixture'. He says: "There seems to have been a flaw in it for some years it only required a slight tap to do all the mischief." Liverpool, next him, says: "Some Foreign Cement or a decoction of steel lozenge properly applied may stick them together for the present, but I'm afraid it won't last long, the parts seem of opposite compositions." Castlereagh says: "By the Ghost of my Father I will hold it together by a Tringular [sic] Proceeding. & whip it all round". Wellington sits in a chair decorated with military emblems; he says: "Steel filings and leaded paste is the only Composition to be depended on." At his feet are bayonets and cannon-balls, with a cannon, and a huge ball inscribed 'Bolus'. Behind Sidmouth stands George IV in consultation with Eldon; he weeps, holding his handkerchief to his eye, and says, pointing to his Ministers: "Cant Sid my Tool and L--r--pl, Some how contrive to mend it." Eldon, in Chancellor's wig and gown, answers: "Dash my Wig if I know what to do! my head's in Chancery." Beside him are two 'Old Green Bags done with'. At the King's feet is a paper: 'Straight Jacket'. By Sidmouth's chair are papers: 'A Blister for the Radicals if they Kick up a Row'; 'A Gagging Bandage', with a pot of 'Poison for the Q . . .' Also the words 'Filth', 'Dirt'. On the extreme left, John Bull is seated on a bale inscribed 'Knowledge is Power'. One hand is on his hip, the other on a bludgeon of 'English Oak'. He says, frowning at the Ministers: "I think the following prescription would be the best Cement, a handful of reformation; a large portion of the abolition of Sinicures [sic], a ladle full of the reduction of Taxes, with a plentiful solution of the Oil of Just Claims, and attention to the wants of an industrious part of the Community, would more safely ensure a permanent union with the separate pieces than all the cement or steel lozengers [sic] in the world." The Queen looks in through a small window, Wood looking over her shoulder; they watch the proceedings, tense and indignant.